Sheriff Tiraspol vs Shakhtar Donetsk Predictions

• There have been fewer than three goals in four of the past five Sheriff Tiraspol matches.
• Four of the last six Shakhtar Donetsk games have featured fewer than three goals.
• During Sheriff head coach Yuriy Vernydub’s time at Zorya Luhansk, only one of the 12 Europa League group matches the team played featured more than two goals.

Sheriff shouldn’t let Shakhtar shoot on sight

The question of how good Sheriff Tiraspol are compared to regular Champions League participants will be answered this week as the surprise first-time qualifiers host Shakhtar Donetsk in Group D.

The Moldovan champions’ path through qualifying saw them overcome Alashkert, who subsequently went close to eliminating Rangers in the Europa League, Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb.

Although on paper they have one of the least experienced squads to have reached the group stage of this competition in many years, they won’t be easy opponents for Shakhtar.

The Ukrainian league runners-up relied on two huge goalkeeping performances to oust Monaco in the playoff round to be reunited with some familiar Euro foes.

They will surely look forward to facing Real Madrid again, after taking four points from their thrilling encounters last season, but a trip to Tiraspol is a step into the unknown.

Shakhtar are well used to playing the underdog role against teams from Europe’s high-profile leagues but. in their only recent group games not against such clubs. the Miners drew twice with Dinamo Zagreb.

That makes us think twice about backing them at the odds-on price and instead take the ‘unders’ bet for the clash to feature fewer than three goals.

Sheriff are built on a defensive platform by a coach with a reputation for rarely opening things up.

During his time at Zorya, the Ukrainian side were hardly ever involved in a European game with more than two goals, so we like the potential for this to finish as a 1-1 draw.